Put a Piaffe on That Horse

I don't normally take two lessons in a row, but this time, I felt like I needed all the help I could get! It was a really good idea because we got to build even more on the concepts we went over on Thursday and introduced some new things too. I was worried that we might have to take the same lesson twice, but that didn't happen at all! 10/10 will do two lessons in a row again.

We began warming up and TC was on it. Even though he had a day off on Friday while I worked, he felt like we'd been working on those concepts for weeks. I started out in my own warm up with some renvers and haunches-in, working on getting him to flex right and shift his weight onto his left shoulder. TC responded well and I let him hang out for a while, waiting for our lesson to begin.

Tanya had some nice things to say about our previous lesson, she was impressed how "tall" we got him, which basically means that we got him narrower so he appeared less like a chunky monkey (I swear you can feel his ribs, they're right there) and more like a toned dressage horse. I told her we hadn't worked on anything the day before, but that he was feeling really good that day.

Some fancy trot work!

We started in trot with some warm up lateral work, riding some shoulder-in, renvers, and steep leg yields. TC isn't the best at steep leg yields, so I know what we'll be doing in warm up from now on. His shoulder-in and renvers were on point though, the horse learns SO FAST and I guess I'm up there learning too. He started out way more between my aids than he did on Thursday and it was so much fun.

We then headed into canter and did some work on his collected canter. Tanya had an interesting observation that TC gets a lot of air time in the canter, but mostly in his hind legs. She wanted him to commit to the collection more than he'd like to and had me really put my mechanic on it to make it happen. My inner thighs were quite sore that night!

But TC is an actual genius, so he sat right down and was such a good boy about working that hard. We switched directions with a flying change after riding some 10 meter canter circles. Tanya had me do it on the short diagonal and wanted me to wait until B, but I didn't because TC offered and I went with it. It was a great flying change but "that's nowhere near B, Megan" and thus began a discussion of where TC is in his flying change training.

Tanya thinks TC is way more confirmed than I do, but she says she sees it in him, he's confident and knows exactly what I'm asking for and will do it. Now is the time (even though we're literally 3.5 months into flying change training!) to begin having him wait for my aid.

Counter canter exercise to the left

With that, we went right into our next exercise. Tanya had me track large and do trot to canter transitions between counter canter and true canter. Get TC really in tune with canter, trot, switch flexion/shift weight, counter canter, trot, switch flexion/shift weight, canter, and so on. Then when I was in counter canter, set him up and do a change the same way I've been switching flexion/shifting weight. TC was quite good at this from right to left. He gave a very quiet flying change that was on my aids. There was a tiny bit of falling left as he changed, so Tanya suggested we play with that over time, but generally for the first time in this exercise, very good.

The other way, tracking right (and therefore the left to right change), was TOUGH. TC did not want to pick up the counter canter, then when we actually tried the change, he jumped sideways out of the arena, tripping and landing with the arena fence in between his legs. That taught him though, and the next one we did was FABULOUS. Tanya was so excited! So was I.

More fancy trot work

It was right then in the lesson that I realized how much fun TC was having. He was grinning ear to ear. Even Tanya started to mention how much he seemed to be enjoying his work. I told her that ever since starting the changes, the horse has been so confident and has been having so much fun in his work! He is really coming into his own as a dressage horse.

Sure enough, she had me do some walk trot transitions for a bit and he got more and more amped with every right answer and every neck pet and good boy I gave him. He puffed himself up more and more as we did some shoulder-in to medium trot work. Tanya told me that the medium was actually quite good, even though I've thought it wasn't very good.

By the end of our ride (which ended with two amazing half passes that my soloshot decided to cut off our legs during), TC was bombing around like an FEI horse, still with his big stupid grin and his perked little ears. Tanya said literally those words "there's your FEI horse" while we were going. I was smiling a lot as well.

Counter canter exercise to the right, he was very

confused by this so you can see him struggling and

then he eats shit at 2:30, keep watching to see his

best LR change ever!

At the end of the lesson, we stopped to chat. Tanya told me about a horse she knew who was like TC, really not super fancy from the get go and definitely the wrong breeding, but who somehow (and no one knows how) just thrived in the dressage. The horse went to Kentucky at the I1 last year. Tanya told me to get a piaffe on my horse ASAP and keep perfecting all of this work for Third level and beyond.

I was in complete shock. And then I saw the videos and like... is this really my horse? There's still so much to improve, but he literally gave me a feeling I've never had before. I've taken two horses to Grand Prix and schooled several others at that level. Never felt this in a horse before. It was more than just fancy movement or collection or connection. There was something about the harmony and how much fun we were both having that made it truly spectacular.

I think this might be my next Grand Prix horse, guys. And I think he's going to want to show in front of some real crowds one day. I think it's safe to say that we've re-positioned our aim into the stars.